As Tom Hardy prepares for one last dance as Venom and recent reports have Tom Holland preparing for a very busy 2025, there’s been increasing buzz that the two stars will team up in an unprecedented studio crossover event film. Recent rumors have indicated that Knull, the big bad in Sony’s Venom: The Last Dance, will survive the film and crossover into the MCU for future projects. Now, a new rumor lends some support to that possibility.
Scooper Cryptic HD Quality, who has been quite reliable in the past, took to Twitter to share that he’d heard a potential subtitle for the fourth installment in Sony and Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man franchise. And if what he’s heard is true (note that even he is skeptical of the rumor) it cements Knull entering the MCU.
Cryptic HD Quality shared that the as-yet-undated film could be titled Spider-Man: The King in Black.
Take this with a grain of salt, but I’ve heard the next Spider-Man movie might be titled Spider-Man: King in Black. pic.twitter.com/AX62AYEoY1
For those unfamiliar with the Marvel Comics character, Knull is an Eldritch god who created the symbiote race. Long after being imprisoned and losing his connection to them, Knull broke free and slaughtered billions during a cosmos-wide rampage of terror in which he attempted to once again control every symbiote and their hosts. Eventually, Knull’s search brought him to Earth where he faced off with Venom and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in a 5-issue event titled The King in Black.
Given that Tom Hardy‘s Eddie Brock left a piece of his symbiote behind after visiting Earth-616, all the necessary ground work for Knull to enter the MCU has already been done. The rumors also line up with recent reports that before hiring Destin Daniel Cretton to direct the film, Marvel Studios and Sony overhauled the script for Spider-Man 4 which once featured Spidey and Daredevil teaming up against Wilson Fisk in a street-level Civil War. With production on Spider-Man 4 reportedly getting underway in the first half of 2025, it’s likely that we’ll gain some clarity on these rumors over the next few months.
For forty years, Marvel Comics’ crossover events have brought characters from every corner of the Marvel Universe to tell stories larger in scale and scope than could be done on the pages of any individual series. While not every event has been well-received, many of the arcs stand as some of the genre’s most exciting. Jim Starlin‘s Infinity Trilogy, Mark Millar‘s Civil War and Brian Michael Bendis‘ Secret Invasion have already been adapted by Marvel Studios which will next turn to an adaptation of Marvel’s first crossover event, Secret Wars, as the capstone to the Multiverse Saga. While fans wait to see just how that project comes together, new reports indicate that the studio may also have plans for a different type of crossover that would involve an unprecedented level of collaboration.
As Sony prepares to take its Venom franchise for one last spin around the dance floor, rumors and reports have begun to emerge that suggest that the story of Tom Hardy‘s Eddie Brock may continue in the MCU.
After revealing that Knull, the terrifying villain of Venom: The Last Dance, was portrayed via motion capture by Andy Serkis, industry insider Daniel RPK shared the news that the character was set to appear in future projects down the road. WIth Sony having confirmed that the upcoming film will be the final installment in the Venom franchise, that has led to speculation that the character may be making the jump to the MCU.
While it’s purely speculative at this point, there’s enough circumstantial evidence to allow for the possibility to be considered. Knull, also known in the comics as the King in Black, is an incredibly complex character but what’s important for the context of this potential crossover is that he is an eldritch god who created the symbiote race of which Venom is a part. After losing his connection to them for a time, Knull sought to regain control of them and take over the cosmos. As seen in trailers for Venom: The Last Dance, Knull is sending creatures to Earth in search of symbiotes and it could be assumed that he’s doing so to bring all of his “children” back to him. With a piece of the Venom symbiote having been left behind in the MCU, it’s not too hard to imagine that Knull could be making his way there soon.
It’s interesting that the news comes just ahead of the release of Venom: The Last Dance and as Sony and Marvel Studios begin to prepare for production on Spider-Man 4. After recently undergoing a major overhaul, the fourth installment in the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man franchise has reportedly shifted from featuring a “street-level Civil War” to potentially featuring a Multiversal story that could tie directly into Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Holland is reportedly set to play a leading role in both Avengers films and a meeting with Hardy’s Eddie Brock and a battle with Knull could work to put his Peter Parker in the black symbiote suit that first debuted in Jim Shooter‘s 1984 crossover event, Secret Wars, just in time for the 2027 MCU film of the same name.
The level of collaboration between the two studios that would be required to make this sort of studio crossover is unprecedented but also carries some potentially incredible implications. While Marvel Studios recently had major characters from non-Marvel Studios’ produced films appear in Deadpool & Wolverine, the studio had regained the right to all of those characters. In the imagined scenario where Venom and Knull appear in a film set within the MCU, the studio would be using characters solely owned by Sony and would have no choice but to adhere to the prior storytelling that brought them to where they are. Of course, with the Multiverse Saga in its back half, it is now or never for such an opportunity.
Venom: The Last Dance hits theaters on October 25th.
It’s still too early to tell, but Thunderbolts* may well be the poster child for Bob Iger‘s successful return to Disney when it’s all said and done. Though it hadn’t quite fallen from grace, Marvel Studios was on thin ice following a string of projects like The Marvels that either weren’t doing big business at the box office or projects that were simply subpar efforts like Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and Secret Invasion.
It seemed that in the studio’s rush to flood the market with Marvel content, quality was taking a back seat and that was something Iger wasn’t willing to allow to continue. Among the projects targeted by Iger was Thunderbolts* which underwent a series of script rewrites that reportedly reworked the film into something quite worthwhile despite its inauspicious start as a sequel to Black Widow. Of course, the success of any film is partially dependent on the work of its cast and Thunderbolts* has a collection of stars at its center with Florence Pugh, Wyatt Russell, Sebastian Stan and David Harbour leading the way. And now comes word that an actor from one of HBO’s most beloved series also has a role in the film.
According to an official project profile for Thunderbolts*, True Blood star Chris Bauer landed a role in the 2025 film.
Bauer, who played Bon Temps Sheriff Andy Bellefleur for 81 episodes over True Blood‘s seven seasons, has been a staple of serial television for 25 years with major roles in The Wire, Third Watch, The Deuce, and recently as Wild Bill Hancock in Starz’s Heels, created by Marvel Studios’ writer Michael Waldron. It’s unknown what the nature of Bauer’s role in Thunderbolts* is and he joins Jack Ryan star Wendell Pierce as a surprise addition to the cast.
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan had a solid four-season run for Amazon Prime before coming to an end in 2023. As a modernized adaptation of Clancy’s series of novels, the streaming show combined good writing, decent action and wonderful casting, including some names that may not have been familiar to audiences before viewing.
While series lead John Krasinski was certainly a household name, Jack Ryan gave Hollywood vets like Michael Kelly and Wendell Pierce strong supporting roles that allowed them to shine. Kelly parlayed his success into a role in a comic book property, landing a gig in HBO’s The Penguin as Falcon family underboss Johnny Viti. Now, it looks as though it’s Pierce’s turn to enter the world of superheroes.
As revealed in an official project profile for Marvel Studios Thunderbolts*, Pierce has joined the film’s ensemble cast in an undisclosed role.
With Deadpool & Wolverine now available digitally after a record-breaking theatrical run, some fans are catching the buddy comedy for the first time from the comfort of their home theater. Though Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are the film’s stars and the ones out to save the day, they get plenty of help from a surprising group of heroes.
Despite being made by Marvel Studios and containing a scene set in the MCU’s Sacred Timeline, most of Deadpool & Wolverine takes place on Earth-10005, multiple other Earths across the Multiverse or in The Void at the End of Time. While there’s plenty of fun had as Wade hops from Earth to Earth in search of the right Wolverine for the job, it’s in The Void where the film really flexes its creativity, bringing in a ragtag team of washed up heroes known as The Resistance. The Resistance generated a lot of buzz during the film’s theatrical run and is likely to do so again as the project’s second life begins. So, who are the characters who make up The Resistance and why are they there? Let’s take a look!
The Members of The Resistance
Johnny Storm/The Human Torch
Played by: Chris Evans
References: Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
The first member of The Resistance met by Wade and Logan, Johnny Storm also meets a horrible fate at the freaky hands of Cassandra Nova. The film cleverly exploited Evans‘ return, baiting the audience into believing they might be seeing the triumphant return of Captain America. While that didn’t turn out to be the case, Evans gave Johnny a proper sendoff which includes a profanity-laced tirade for the ages.
Thank you to Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman and Shawn Levy for letting me be a part of such an incredible movie! They’re three of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Special thank you to Ryan for making it all happen. Playing Johnny again was a dream come true and he’ll always have a special place in my heart.
Chris Evans
Elektra Natchios
Played by: Jennifer Garner
References: Daredevil (2003) and Elektra (2005)
After debuting as the character along Ben Affleck‘s Matt Murdock/Daredevil in 2003 and leading an Elektra film in 2005, Jennifer Garner suited back up as the assassin almost 20 years later and didn’t miss a beat.
I didn’t know that Elektra and I needed an ending, but Shawn and Ryan did. They are gifted in many ways, but seeing and elevating people around them is at the top of the list.
Jennifer Garner
Eric Brooks/Blade
Played by: Wesley Snipes
References: Blade (1998), Blade II (2002) and Blade: Trinity (2004)
A decade before the MCU kicked off with Iron Man, Wesley Snipes brought Blade the Vampire Hunter to the big screen, lending legitimacy to superhero properties and changing the pop culture landscape forever. Despite Reynolds and Snipes having a fairly well-known feud with one another while filming Blade: Trinity, Reynolds reached out and the two found a way to not only bring Blade back but give him the proper send-off he never got.
Well, if you can make it happen. Sure. I’ll come and do it. I did not think it was possible. I didn’t think he would be able to pull it off. I didn’t think that Marvel was into it. Disney was into it.
Wesley Snipes
Remy LeBeau/Gambit
Played by: Channing Tatum
Reference: None
Though a version of Gambit appeared in the absolutely awful X-Men Origins: Wolverine, there’s little more to the story of this particular version portrayed by Channing Tatum. When Disney and Fox merged in 2019, Tatum’s long-developing Gambit film went by the wayside as the Fox X-Men franchise was euthanized. Tatum’s passion for the character came through in Deadpool & Wolverine, leading for fans to call for his return as the Cajun down the road.
I thought I had lost Gambit forever.
-Channing Tatum
Laura/X-23
Played by: Dafne Keen
Reference: Logan (2017)
Dafne Keen first starred as X-23, a clone of Wolverine, in 2017’s Logan and instantly became a fan favorite. While her return to the character was rumored months ahead of the film’s premiere, Keen kept the secret from almost everyone. Unlike the other members of The Resistance, Laura eventually ended up on Earth-10005, seemingly promising more in store for the character in the MCU.
Shawn [Levy] told me this lovely story about him reading this scene where Deadpool was telling Wolverine about X–23, and thinking, ‘Maybe we should just have X-23.’ She’s a big emotional motor for Wolverine, and Wolverine is her entire emotional motor.
Dafne Keen
Deadpool & Wolverine is now available for purchase on digital platforms.
With the writing team of Chris McKenna and Eric Sommers back for a fourth go-around and Destin Daniel Cretton on board to direct, the creative team for Sony and Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man 4 looks to be in good shape. With the studios hoping to get principal photography underway in the first half of 2025 to get the film ready for 2026, the next step is assembling talent around star Tom Holland. While the supporting cast of the first MCU-set Spider-Man trilogy had several key members play large roles in each film, Spider-Man: No Way Home remade Peter’s status quo, leaving room for potential new friends and enemies.
The spell cast by Doctor Strange at the behest of Peter Parker in the final act of the Spidey threequel was intended to make everyone forget they knew the man behind the mask of the Wall-Crawler. And as revealed before the film wrapped, the spell was a success. Happy Hogan, MJ and Ned all interacted with Peter with no recognition of their friend. With his friends safe from enemies who would otherwise exploit them to get at Peter and Aunt May having been killed by The Green Goblin, Peter is set up for a brand new day…which may just include a new love interest!
According to social media scooper MyTimeToShineHello, as Spider-Man 4 heads for a May 2025 start of production, the project is searching for a new female lead.
While the scooper didn’t provide any follow-up details, it hasn’t stopped fans from speculating that the character may well be one that’s been both slated to rumored to appear in Spidey movies in the past: Felicia Hardy, aka Black Cat.
A cat burglar with a bit of a vengeful streak, Hardy has engaged in an on-again, off-again romantic relationship with Peter. The plot for Spider-Man 4 has yet to be revealed though rumors about the film involving either a street-level civil war or a crossover battle with Sony’s Eddie Brock/Venom, played by Tom Hardy. In either case, it’s not clear what role Black Cat would play but then again, neither plot is confirmed nor is it clear that she is the new female lead. With the studios moving quickly toward production, however, it wouldn’t be too surprising if more information about the project was revealed soon.
After staying quiet on their plans beyond 2025, Marvel Studios has quite clearly been working hard behind the scenes on getting its 2026 slate put together. Once the studio made the decision to pivot to Doctor Doom as the new centerpiece of the Multiverse Saga in Avengers: Doomsday, other pieces started to become easier to put into place. And so while projects such as Blade, Armor Wars and a Shang-Chi sequel face uncertain futures, other projects have started to gather some momentum.
According to Production List, production on Spider-Man 4 is currently slated to begin in January 2025.
Paired with additional news from Production List that Avengers: Doomsday is slated for an April start of principal photography, it looks as though Holland will have a three-month window to film his scenes for Spider-Man 4 before jumping into work on the fifth Avengers film. That timeline is indeed consistent with the filming windows for the three previous MCU-set Spidey films, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
As encouraging as things sound, Production List is NOT a trade and neither Marvel nor Sony have provided any official updates on Spider-Man 4. So as compelling as it is to believe a growing collection of circumstantial evidence, don’t mark anything on your calendars just yet.
As Deadpool & Wolverine, Marvel Studios first R-rated movie, continues its record breaking theatrical run that has seen it become one of the ten highest grossing MCU films to date, attention has begun to turn to home release. With only Inside Out2 pulling in more money for Disney this past year, fans had begun to wonder if Deadpool & Wolverine would follow the same digital release schedule as the Pixar sequel which would have made it available for purchase on September 17th. However, with the Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman buddy comedy still pulling in decent returns overseas, fans will have to hold out just a little longer before seeing Jackman’s abs in the comfort of their own homes.
Revealed via Disney’s social media platforms today, Deadpool & Wolverine will be available to rent/own in various digital platforms such as Fandango, Apple TV and Amazon Prime beginning on October 1st.
Be the first to watch #DeadpoolAndWolverine from the comfort of your living r-hugh-m.
Following a three week digital-only window, physical copies of the film will be available on October 22nd. As of now, no date has been revealed for the movie’s debut on Disney Plus.
So far, Marvel Studios’ Multiverse Saga has not quite lived up to the expectations as a follow-up to the Infinity Saga. While the studio’s first three phases had bumps in the road, the combination of a pandemic, the tragic loss of one of the studio’s biggest stars, work stoppages in Hollywood and some really bad decisions have led to the perception that Marvel Studios has lost its way. Keenly aware of that perception, Disney dialed up an intervention and began to make key changes behind the scenes. So far, it would be hard to argue with the results as a string of good projects has begun to erase the (short) memory of the public and reestablish the MCU as a pop culture giant; however, with another two-plus years of projects planned to finish up the Multiverse Saga, there’s still plenty of work to do.
Part of that work is continuing to separate the future from the bad decisions of the past…which has led them to reach further into the past. Following the studio’s decision to part ways with Jonathan Majors, who was contracted to play multiple versions of Kang and serve as the big bad of the Multiverse Saga, Kevin Feige turned to Infinity Saga legends Anthony and Joe Russo and Robert Downey Jr. to save the day by rebuilding Avengers: The Kang Dynasty as Avengers: Doomsday. Pivoting to a new villain at the core of the Multiverse Saga opened up the playbook a bit for the studio, allowing for characters who perhaps weren’t slated for major roles to find one (and it also pushed some characters right out of the stories planned for the next few years. And for one character in particular, that reportedly may mean a redemption arc that will thrill a large segment of MCU fandom.
According to insider My Time to Shine Hello, the Russos and writer Stephen McFeely have carved out a large role for Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff in Avengers: Doomsday.
Following the events of WandaVision, which saw the character hold the entire town of Westview hostage within her grief-induced hex, Wanda’s study of the Darkhold corrupted her. By the time she appeared again in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Wanda had become the Scarlet Witch and acted as the film’s main antagonist. Though based on comic book lore, the decision by writer Michael Waldron to utilize the character as a villain was controversial. Already a popular character, Wanda’s fanbase grew significantly during WandaVision‘s weekly run on Disney Plus. Following the film’s release, Waldron addressed the fanbase’s issues with Wanda’s heel turn, saying “I guess I would say to the WandaVision fans, like, I get it. Watching a character you love do bad things sucks. That elicits a strong feeling, which is what we’re trying to do in the movies. We never would have done it if it didn’t feel like the next step in her character journey.“
To me, my interpretation of the story of WandaVision was, that Wanda is confronting her grief in that show, but I don’t think she’s necessarily conquering it. It’s a show about her living in denial to some extent and she’s conquering her denial, but I don’t think that she’s properly reckoning with her anger over what she’s endured, and that anger is what she carries with her as she walks away with the knowledge that she is the Scarlet Witch and with the Darkhold, this evil book. And I think it’s that anger that the Darkhold preys upon and pushes her on what is a, to me and I think to Wanda, a very justifiable, noble journey. She just wants her kids.
-Michael Waldron on Wanda Maximoff’s villainous role in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Though there’s no mention of what Wanda’s role in Avengers: Doomsday might entail, the character does have an interesting comic book history with that film’s title character, Victor Von Doom, that current and future events in the MCU’s ongoing shared narrative could easily be setting up. With things at Marvel Studios more unsettled than ever and with the powers that be apparently deciding to accelerate the ending of the Multiverse Saga, it’s best not to become too attached to any one particular idea at this time; however, a redemption arc for the Scarlet Witch is one idea that continues to look fairly promising.
Much has been made about the changes that have taken place behind the scenes at Marvel Studios since Bob Iger returned to Disney. The number of series and films has been reduced, productions have been paused, rewritten and reshot and the fates of others seemingly lie in the balance as the Multiverse Saga is being reworked on the fly. Slightly less attention has been paid, however, to the not-so-subtle shift in the typically tight-lipped studio’s marketing approach.
Projects such as Agatha All Along and The Fantastic Four: First Steps seemed to serve as guinea pigs for fun new strategies to engage the public far sooner and more directly than what the studio had done in the past. Additionally (and perhaps driven by leaks) teaser trailers for upcoming films, such as 2025’s Captain America: Brave New World, started making their way online earlier than in the past.
Thunderbolts*, another 2025 project has also utilized some non-traditional strategies to gather some momentum. Earlier this year, star Florence Pugh released a staged, behind-the-scenes video from the film’s set which revealed a slight change to the film’s title with an asterisk being added. That asterisk has driven dialogue online as fans speculate and theorize about just what its inclusion might mean and the studio has certainly embraced if not encouraged the discourse. In addition to that bit of fun, the studio also sneakily dropped an extended teaser for the film on September 23rd, more than seven months before it hits theaters. And while the fine folks at Marvel Studios did their best to keep their secrets, they did leave one clue in the background that reveals the identity of a mysterious new organization that will be introduced to the MCU in the film.
At the 1:33 mark of the trailer, after Pugh’s Yelena Belova recovers from the attempt by Wyatt Russell’s John Walker to kill her, a symbol can be glimpsed on a crate over Belova’s left shoulder.
Though the symbol is at an odd angle, upon a little zoom, zoom, zoom and a boom-boom, it can be recognized as a fancy combination of the letters O, X and E. And while it may not be as easily recognizable to fans as other members of Marvel’s alphabet soup club such as S.H.I.E.L.D. or S.W.O.R.D., O.X.E. is an established organization from the pages of Marvel Comics and it has ties to one of the main characters in Thunderbolts*.
Iterations of O.X.E. exist in both Marvel Comics’ 616 and Ultimate universes and while the true nature of either entity isn’t actually too clear, they were both founded by… Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. After first appearing in The Falcon and The Winter Solider, the MCU’s version of Val–played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, has been busy recruiting her own team of operatives such as Walker and Belova. And if it wasn’t already clear enough after watching the teaser, Val is using her O.X.E. facility as a holding tank for Lewis Pullman‘s “Bob” and has sent all her cronies there to die, whether by Bob’s hands–or eyes–or by each other’s, as she seeks a new position within the U.S. Goverment. It’s also very likely that the masked gunmen who are given the unenviable task of shooting up Bob are Val’s O.X.E. goons.
Of course, the teaser has plenty of other fun reveals such as Val’s now comic-accurate hair, improved new looks for Ghost and Taskmaster, the Sentry belt logo and a renovated Stark/Avengers Tower. From the looks of it, Black Widow 2 Thunderbolts* may have greatly benefitted from the delays it faced as it the script was rewritten and polished up by several writers over the past couple of years. Moving forward, it will be interesting to see what role, if any, Val and O.X.E. play in the MCU or if it was just an easy organization to write in as a one-off.
Thunderbolts* is set to arrive in theaters on May 2, 2025.
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